Over the Memorial Day Weekend, Bill Kristol doubled down on his betrayal of this country with a pair of tweets:

“Just a heads up over this holiday weekend: There will be an independent candidate — an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance,” Kristol tweeted.

He also said, “Those accused of betraying GOP by opposing Trump can take heart from P. Henry 251 years ago today: ‘If this be treason, make the most of it!’”

This fatuous invocation of an American patriot to justify the betrayal typifies the arrogant disregard for political realities shared by all those involved in a defection that could produce even greater disasters than the Obama era’s 400,000 deaths by jihad and 20 million refugees across the Middle East.

A week earlier, a “Never Trump” diatribe appeared in National Review, written by Charles Murray. To summarize why “Trump is unfit outside the normal parameters” to be president, Murray cited these words by NY Times columnist David Brooks:

A group​ advocating the separation of church and state is trying to send a message to President Obama about religion in the military ahead of the president’s June 2 commencement address at the Air Force Academy.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has erected a billboard behind the graduation stage and is planning to fly an aerial banner during the ceremony. The billboard reads, “Welcome Mr. President To Our AF Academy. Why is Jesus Commander In Chief Here?”

Mikey Weinstein, who founded the group, said religion has no place in the armed forces.More

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Over the months, Hillary Clinton misstated key facts about her use of private email and her own server for her work as secretary of state, the department’s inspector general reported this week.

According to the findings, she claimed approval she didn’t have and declined to be interviewed for the report despite saying: “I’m more than ready to talk to anybody anytime.” Scrutiny of her unusual email practices appeared to be unwelcome, despite her contention those practices were well known and “fully above board.”

A look at some of Clinton’s past claims about her unusual email set-up and how they compare with the inspector general’s findings:

CLINTON: “The system we used was set up for President Clinton’s office. And it had numerous safeguards. It was on property guarded by the Secret Service. And there were no security breaches.” — March 2015 press conference.

THE REPORT: Evidence emerged of hacking attempts, though it’s unclear whether they were successful.

DETROIT – Officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested 73 individuals during a two-state operation that concluded Thursday, targeting criminal aliens and other immigration violators in Michigan and Ohio.

During the four-day enforcement action, ERO officers apprehended 70 aliens with criminal convictions. The remaining three fall under the agency’s enforcement priorities as recent immigration violators. Those arrested had criminal histories with past convictions for drug trafficking, DUI, weapons violations, child sex offenses, identity theft, child abuse and other serious criminal offenses. Fifteen of those taken into custody were criminal aliens who now face federal prosecution for re-entry after deportation, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

"ICE’s targeted immigration enforcement operations like this one take convicted criminals and other public-safety threats off the streets," said Rebecca Adducci, field office director for ERO Detroit, which covers Michigan and Ohio. "These actions focus our resources on the most egregious offenders and promote public safety in the communities in which we live and work.”

Among those arrested were:

A 23-year-old Saudi Arabian man with convictions for three counts of trafficking Xanax and possession of drugs. He was arrested in Cleveland, May 25 and will remain in ICE custody pending removal from the United States.

A 39-year-old Mexican man with convictions for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, operating under the influence of liquor, trespassing, open container in vehicle and DUI. He will be prosecuted federally for illegally re-entering the United States after removal. He was arrested in Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 25.

A 24-year-old Dominican man with prior convictions for possession of cocaine, intimidation, larceny, and three separate counts of possession of marijuana. He was arrested in Lorain, Ohio, May 24, and will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

A 65-year-old Jamaican man with prior convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, receiving stolen property and obstruction. He was arrested in Toledo, Ohio, May 23, and will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

The foreign nationals arrested during the operation include citizens of 19 countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Lebanon, Poland, Bosnia, Vietnam, South Korea, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Jordan, New Zealand, Jamaica, Guyana, Belize, Sudan, and Lithuania. Those who are not being criminally prosecuted will be processed administratively for removal from the United States. The arrestees who have outstanding orders of deportation, or who returned to the United States illegally after being deported, are subject to immediate removal from the country. The remaining individuals are in ICE custody awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge, or pending travel arrangements for removal in the near future.

All of those apprehended during last week’s operation were immigration enforcement priorities as outlined in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson’s 2014memorandum. Priority 1 targets include threats to national security, criminal street gang members, convicted felons, and aggravated felons. Priority 2 targets include individuals with convictions for three or more misdemeanors, or convictions for significant misdemeanors, including DUIs.

OCEAN CITY, Md. (WJZ) — Ocean City is an iconic destination, full of attractions new and old. Here’s a look back at how it transformed into one of the most popular beach resorts in the country.

Jolly Rogers is the place thrill-seekers go to indulge. Just a step off the sandy shore, you can reach breathtaking heights. The amusement park is an Ocean City landmark and, since opening in 1964, has grown dramatically.

“We are one of the iconic destinations here in town and we have a responsibility to the town and our guests to keep things nice, keep ’em clean, keep ’em fun,” said Jolly Rogers Director of Sales Dean Langrall.

Jolly Rogers started as a miniature golf course more than 50 years ago. Today, it offers a Ferris wheel, dozens of rides, games, go-karts and so much more. It expands to keep up with the number of visitors.

Over the Memorial Day Weekend, Bill Kristol doubled down on his betrayal of this country with a pair of tweets:

“Just a heads up over this holiday weekend: There will be an independent candidate — an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance,” Kristol tweeted.

He also said, “Those accused of betraying GOP by opposing Trump can take heart from P. Henry 251 years ago today: ‘If this be treason, make the most of it!’”

This fatuous invocation of an American patriot to justify the betrayal typifies the arrogant disregard for political realities shared by all those involved in a defection that could produce even greater disasters than the Obama era’s 400,000 deaths by jihad and 20 million refugees across the Middle East.

A week earlier, a “Never Trump” diatribe appeared in National Review, written by Charles Murray. To summarize why “Trump is unfit outside the normal parameters” to be president, Murray cited these words by NY Times columnist David Brooks:

Two Republicans intimately familiar with Bill Kristol’s efforts to recruit an independent presidential candidate to challenge Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have told Bloomberg Politics that the person Kristol has in mind is David French -- whose name the editor of the Weekly Standard floated in the current issue of the magazine.

French is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the website of National Review, where French is a staff writer, he is a constitutional lawyer, a recipient of the Bronze Star, and an author of several books who lives in Columbia, Tenn., with his wife Nancy and three children.

Reached in Israel late Tuesday afternoon, Kristol declined to comment on his efforts to induce French to run. The two Republicans confirmed that French is open to launching a bid, but that he has not made a final decision. One of the Republicans added that French has not lined up a vice-presidential running mate or significant financial support. However, according to this person, some conservative donors look favorably on the prospect of French entering the fray.

In Kristol’s piece in the Standard’s June 6 issue, he argued that “the fact of Trump's and Clinton's unfitness for the Oval Office has become so self-evident that it's no longer clear one needs a famous figure to provide an alternative.” After mentioning Mitt Romney and other possibilities such as Judd Gregg and Mel Martinez, Kristol invoked French’s name and résumé, writing, “To say that he would be a better and a more responsible president than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is to state a truth that would become self-evident as more Americans got to know him.”

(SALISBURY, MD) – Maryland State Police homicide investigators arrested two Salisbury men in connection with the fatal shooting of Keonte Gaskins that occurred earlier this month in Salisbury in a Wicomico County apartment complex.

The suspects identified and arrested are Gerald Ogress Savage, Jr., 18, of the 400 block of Brookridge Drive in Salisbury and Joshue Isiah Perry, 18, of the 400 block of S. Kaywood Drive in Salisbury. Both Savage and Perry are charged with first and second degree murder, use of a firearm in a violent crime, possession of firearm and several other charges. Additional arrests are pending.

Savage and Perry were arrested without incident on Sunday, May 29, 2016 around 12:00 noon in Salisbury. They are currently being held at the Wicomico County Detention Center without bond.

On May 11, 2016, the body of Keonte Gaskins, 21, of no fixed address, was found in the outdoor stairwell of the Village of Mitchell Pond Apartment Complex on Parsons Road in Salisbury. Residents from the apartment complex called 9-1-1 after making the discovery. Emergency medical providers pronounced Gaskins deceased at the scene.

Investigators from the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit were called to assist the Salisbury Police Department in the investigation. Upon their arrival, Gaskins appeared to have suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

State police continue to interview anyone who may have information relevant to the investigation. Anyone with information about the death of Keonte Gaskins is urged to contact the Maryland State Police Salisbury Barrack at 410-749-3101, or Crime Solvers of the Lower Eastern Shore at 410-548-1776.

"We conclude that a national average rate of premium increase is a fairly meaningless statistic since different markets are having very different experiences," said the report.

"The focus of attention should be on understanding the wide variability by identifying the characteristics of markets that have experienced high premiums or high growth in premiums and of markets with lower premiums or lower growth in premiums."

Self-driving cars are no longer a futuristic idea. Companies like Mercedes, BMW, and Tesla have already released, or are soon to release, self-driving features that give the car some ability to drive itself.

Tech companies are also trying to pioneer the self-driving car. Recently, Google announced that it would be testing its prototype of a driverless car on roads this summer in California.

In an in-depth report from BI Intelligence, we analyze the self-driving car market by analyzing the current state of the self-driving car and provide an in-depth analysis for how we see the self-driving car progressing over the next five years. Our in-depth analysis describes the economic impact that self-driving cars can have and look at the current barriers preventing the self-driving car from coming to market.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

Self-driving cars are not some futuristic auto technology; in fact there are already cars with self-driving features on the road. We define the self-driving car as any car with features that allow it to accelerate, brake, and steer a car's course with limited or no driver interaction.

We divide the self-driving car into two different types: semi-autonomous and fully autonomous. A fully autonomous vehicle can drive from point A to point B and encounter the entire range of on-road scenarios without needing any interaction from the driver. These will debut in 2019.

"When your coworkers like you, everything becomes easier," he says. "People have your back when you need it the most, you can ask for and get favors more easily, people will volunteer to help in times of need, and you can get far better cooperation even across departments."

The aide, Justin Cooper, served the Clinton Foundation while working for a private consulting firm, Teneo Holdings and Decision Sciences Corp., that served foreign dictators, Morris told "The Steve Malzberg Show" in an interview.

"He has no security clearance — and he had access to every single email either sent by or received by the secretary of state of the United States for four years," Morris said. "All of it, every one of them.

In the dead of night, the “Republican-controlled” U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment to a $37.4 billion “energy and water” appropriations bill – a fiscally liberal omnibus that raises spending and reauthorizes a host of “green energy” measures.

Bad new right? Indeed.

We thought the “green jobs” scam had been thoroughly unmasked. Like, years ago.

But it’s not the bill itself pressing hot buttons among the GOP rank-and-file.

The controversial amendment – sponsored by U.S. Rep. Sean Maloney of New York – codified president Barack Obama‘s recent transgender “bathroom edict.” Basically, Obama issued an order in July 2014 preventing government agencies from contracting with companies that don’t comply with the new “law of the land” regarding bathroom usage.

BALTIMORE — Some Baltimore City school employees are about to lose their jobs.

The district wouldn’t say Friday how many workers are being forced out. Officials said the cash-strapped school system does not have enough money to balance the budget.

Tammy Turner, the acting schools CEO, sent a letter that read, in part, "I cannot express how difficult this decision is for me and everyone involved, because we know it will result in the loss of talented, committed employees."

Marietta English, the president of the Baltimore Teacher's Union, said the news caught her off guard.

"No one has said anything to me about we are going to have a reduction of force," English said.

The list of protected gender identities is available online and includes options such as “gender bender,” “two spirit,” “third sex,” “androgynous,” “gender gifted,” and “pangender.” A city official speaking on background confirmed to The Daily Caller that all of the listed identities are protected by the city’s anti-discrimination laws, but said that the list was not exhaustive.

With the California primary election less than two weeks away, Hillary Clinton’s significant lead has disintegrated.

A poll released this week found Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I, Vt.) in a virtual deadlock in California, igniting the possibility that the former secretary of state could clinch the Democratic nomination without the backing of the nation’s most populous state.

Clinton, who led Sanders by seven points in March, now leads her Democratic challenger 46 percent to 44 percent, according to a new Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday night.

The numbers mark a stark turnaround for the Clinton campaign, which had readied itself for a win in the state to cap off the contentious primary race.

Though Clinton is projected to earn the majority of delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination before polls close in the June 7 election, a California loss would place Clinton on shaky ground heading into the general.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was supposed to have turned over all work-related emails to the State Department to be released to the public. But an agency audit found at least three emails never seen before — including Clinton's own explanation of why she wanted her emails kept private.

After 14 months of public scrutiny and skepticism over Clinton's motives in keeping her emails secret, new questions emerged Thursday. They centered on her apparent failure to turn over a November 2010 message in which she worried that her personal messages could become accessible to outsiders, along with two other messages a year later that divulged possible security weaknesses in the home email system she used while secretary of state.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A powerful constitutional body in Pakistan proposed legislation last week that would allow husbands to "lightly beat" their wives who decline sex or refuse to wear what their mates prefer.

The Council of Islamic Ideology says it has to finalize the 160-page draft before it is sent to lawmakers in the Punjab province, the country's most populated region, for approval.

As well as beatings for wives who decline to have sex with their husbands, the document also advocates men use "limited violence" on spouses who do not bathe after intercourse or during menstruation.

The council — known as CII — went so far as to provide guidelines on how to inflict the beatings.

"Hit her in areas where her skin is not too thick and not too thin," CII leader Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani told a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday. "Do not use shoes or a broom on the head, or hit her on the nose or eyes."More

As the Navy and Marine Corps enter the final stage of a review mandated by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus aimed at removing the word "man" from job titles in favor of gender-neutral alternatives, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday he has been thinking about ways to apply the practice to the entire Defense Department.

Navy and Marine Corps officials have said that all titles, including frequently used ones such as seaman and rifleman, are under a review that began in January at Mabus' request. The move comes as all previously closed job titles across the Defense Department opened to women.

Speaking to reporters at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island, Carter called the move to review job titles "appropriate and needed."

Unless you live in the middle of a bustling city, trees are probably something you take for granted. They surround us almost everywhere we go, making it hard not to forget about their existence every once in a while.

The average person can most likely identify a few types of trees, like an oak or a pine, but the rest of them sort of blend together after a while. There are a few trees across the United States, however, that you can't help but pay attention to when you come across them in the wilderness.

Referred to as "marker trees," these natural structures were a way for Native Americans to communicate important information from nation to nation. You can always spot a marker tree by its curved trunk, which makes it look more alien than earthly. Today, marker trees are becoming harder and harder to find, but, thanks to Dennis Downes, these gorgeous landmarks will be preserved for years to come. Check out the images below to learn more about these mysterious trees and the special purpose they served in Native American cultures.

Hundreds of years ago, Native Americans navigated the land without any help from Google Maps or Yelp.

WASHINGTON — After the principal at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School tried to impose a tough punishment on students caught drunk at a school event, the head of the school district has reversed it, igniting conflict among parents.

Weeks after she warned parents and students, BCC principal Donna Redmond-Jones banned six students who were drunk at their May 6 senior prom from the commencement ceremony June 1.

WASHINGTON – It’s a tradition that makes parents nervous. As high school graduates head to the beaches over the next few weeks, officials in Ocean City, Maryland have plans in place to keep them safe.

“We want you to ride public transportation,” said Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan.

For $5, high school graduates visiting the beach can ride the bus for a week.

“Just keep on that wristband. If you just do that, it gives your parents a bit of relief that you won’t be out driving, and you’re going to be riding transportation,” Meehan said speaking to graduating seniors.

Teens can visit one of four locations: City Hall, the Convention Center, the police department or the city’s North or South Tram station to get a voucher.

Family members of Kate Steinle, the woman who was shot and killed in broad daylight on a San Francisco pier by an alleged attacker who was a previously deported illegal immigrant with a felony background, launched a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming her death was preventable.

“Kate’s death was both foreseeable and preventable had the law enforcement agencies, officials and/or officers involved simply followed the laws, regulations and/or procedures which they swore to uphold,” the suit stated, CNN reported.

The suit names U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the former sheriff of San Francisco County, Ross Mirkarimi, the federal Bureau of Land Management and the actual suspect, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, 45. Sanchez was in the country illegally at the time of the shooting, taking advantage of San Francisco’s sanctuary city status. According to widely reported immigration records, he had been sent back to Mexico on five prior occasions, due in part to his seven felony convictions.

Steinle, killed July 1, 2015, while walking on the pier with her father, died at the age of 32 from a bullet wound to her chest. Her death helped fuel the launch of Donald Trump to the presidency for the Republican Party. Trump referred several times at the start of his campaign to Steinle’s murder as a prime example of why the country needs better immigration and border controls.More

In coming days, the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its carrier strike group will deploy to the Middle East to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State -- and they'll do it with the help of parts stripped off of other operational ships.

This was one of the revelations Thursday from Navy operational commanders who testified to lawmakers about the readiness straits service ships and aircraft find themselves in amid maintenance funding shortfalls and the aftermath of sequestration budget cuts.

The commanders testified days after a congressional delegation made a fact-finding trip to Norfolk to speak with officers aboard the Eisenhower and tour other Navy units.

Capt. Scott Robertson, commander of the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy, told members of the readiness and seapower and projection forces subcommittees of the House Armed Services Committee that 13 mission-essential parts had been cannibalized from the Normandy while it underwent maintenance to support the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group's upcoming deployment.

"One of the parts I had to give up was a cable harness from my spy radar, obviously a very critical function for an air defense ship," he said. "Even if I wasn't in a maintenance phase, I could not possibly surge right now."

Donald Trump said Friday that he would not debate Bernie Sanders, stating that he would rather take on the "the first-place finisher in the Democratic Party" — Hillary Clinton.

"Based on the fact that the Democratic nominating process is totally rigged and Crooked Hillary Clinton and Deborah Wasserman Schultz will not allow Bernie Sanders to win, and now that I am the presumptive Republican nominee, it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second-place finisher," Trump said in a statement.

"Likewise, the networks want to make a killing on these events and are not proving to be too generous to charitable causes, in this case, women’s health issues," the statement added.

"Therefore, as much as I want to debate Bernie Sanders — and it would be an easy payday — I will wait to debate the first-place finisher in the Democratic Party, probably Crooked Hillary Clinton, or whoever it may be."

Latino voters in Florida, New Mexico and California have waved Mexican flags and bashed Donald Trump piñatas — clashing with police, at times — to protest the Republican presidential contender's hard line approach to immigration.

Yet far from the protests, an increasingly vocal Hispanic minority is speaking out in favor of the brash billionaire. They are backing Trump even in the face of resentment and suspicion from friends and family, who are among the overwhelming majority of non-white voters opposed to the New York businessman's candidacy.

"I'm not ashamed to vote for Trump. I'd just rather not have the conversation with my family," said Natalie Lally, a 22-year-old college student from New York City whose large extended family has Colombian roots.

She says silence fell over her grandmother's living room when she admitted her support for Trump during a recent family gathering that included more than 30 relatives.

In the border towns of Texas, the working-class neighborhoods of New York, and even inside Trump's overwhelmingly white rallies, the pro-Trump Hispanic minority is willing to risk public and private ridicule to defend the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee. So far, however, they're not getting much help from Trump's campaign, which has yet to launch an outreach effort to improve his standing with the growing voting bloc.

Growing numbers of citizens from Western European nations are moving to conservative, Christian central Europe to escape the developing political and social situations of their home countries.

While the target nations — Hungary and the Czech Republic — have hardened themselves against illegal migrants by building fences and rejecting the European Union’s forced resettlement programme, they have welcomed the migration of right-wing “refugees” from the first world.

Germany’s Bayerischer Rundfunk reports on the experience of an estate agent with experience selling homes in Hungary’s picturesque Lake Balaton who said the number of “disaffected” Germans seeking property there to escape their own country was on the rise.

Estate agent Ottmar Heide said now eight in ten of his customers were leaving Germany and moving to Hungary because of the migrant crisis, and the potentially millions of non-Europeans who will move to Germany every year. The fact that there is already a large German speaking community around the lake, the country is Christian, property and cost of living is cheap, and there are no “migrants” are all reasons for people choosing to move there, claims the report.More

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Could former governor and presidential candidate Martin O’Malley take the stage at the Democratic National Convention this summer? O’Malley’s name comes up in continuing speculation about replacing the Democratic national party chair.

It’s the first mention of O’Malley’s name in a national political setting since he ran for president.

For the first time since elected to city council 25 years ago, former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley—former mayor of Baltimore and former presidential candidate—is out of office.

Supporters aren’t ready to let him go. His name has popped up as a possible replacement for chair of the Democratic National Committee. Longtime backer John Coale—who is married to Fox TV host Greta van Sustern—Tweets “Martin O’Malley 4 DNC Chair” and it’s been retweeted by a party strategist.

DAHLGREN, Va. — A warning siren bellowed through the concrete bunker of a top-secret Naval facility where U.S. military engineers prepared to demonstrate a weapon for which there is little defense.

Officials huddled at a video screen for a first look at a deadly new supergun that can fire a 25-pound projectile through seven steel plates and leave a 5-inch hole.

The weapon is called a railgun and requires neither gunpowder nor explosive. It is powered by electromagnetic rails that accelerate a hardened projectile to staggering velocity—a battlefield meteorite with the power to one day transform military strategy, say supporters, and keep the U.S. ahead of advancing Russian and Chinese weaponry.

In conventional guns, a bullet loses velocity from the moment the gunpowder ignites and sends it flying. The railgun projectile instead gains speed as it travels the length of a 32-foot barrel, exiting the muzzle at 4,500 miles an hour, or more than a mile a second.

“This is going to change the way we fight,” said U.S. Navy Adm. Mat Winter, the head of the Office of Naval Research.

The Justice Department has filed a court motion to prevent former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from being ordered to testify in a deposition in a case connected to her use of a private email server, The Hill reports.

The Obama administration's move is in response to a deposition request from Judicial Watch, claiming the conservative legal watchdog is trying to expand the scope of the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit related to the preparation of talking points for officials to discuss the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

Last week, Judicial Watch asked the court to interview Clinton and five other current and former State Department officials about the server, after federal judges ruled in this suit and another one brought by Judicial Watch that some fact-finding is legitimate.

Now that the judges have ruled contrary to the Obama administration's wishes, the debate is now over who should be deposed and in what order, with the government claiming that Judicial Watch should finish the deposition in the first case before demanding that Clinton and the others testify in the later lawsuit.

Governor Larry Hogan has repeatedly said he has no plans to support Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and has no plans to attend the Republican National Convention in July.

Traditionally the governor chairs the state delegation at the party's national convention.

This year that job will fall to David Bossie, who is the president and CEO of Citizens United,, and was elected earlier this month to be Maryland's Republican National Committeeman.

Bossie told Maryland's News This Week that he hopes Hogan changes his mind about supporting Trump, because Republicans should support their party's presidential nominee to defeat Hillary Clinton in November.

Donald Trump drew wild cheers and considerable press attention Sunday afternoon during his appearance in Washington at the annual "Rolling Thunder" gathering of veterans and others on motorcycles at the Lincoln Memorial.

While many in the press assumed that the group cheering on Trump were natural Republican supporters of the GOP’s now-certain presidential nominee, I found that this was not necessarily universal.

Many among Rolling Thunder, in fact, were Democrats and registered independents who may be casting their vote for a Republican for the first time in years.

"I'm a Democrat and I'm voting for Trump," U.S. Army veteran Roger Rollins of Clarksburg, West Virginia told me.

When I asked whom he voted for in '12, Rollins shot back: "I sure didn't vote for that black guy in the White House. I didn’t like either of the Bushes, and I don't want Hillary Clinton. I don't trust her at all."More

OHIO - Michelle Gregg, 32, and Deonne Dickerson, 37, are being investigated by police in Ohio for negligence after their four-year-old son fell into a gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo. Watch the video here.

Gregg is an administrator at Little Blossoms Academy preschool in Cincinnati. Dickerson has a lengthy criminal record over the past decade that includes burglary, firearms offenses, drug trafficking, disorderly conduct, criminal trespassing and kidnapping.

The 32-year-old mother of four a posted and then deleted the following message about the gorilla incident on Facebook:

This just in: Disgraced NBC Anchor Brian Williams isn't just a liar, he's a dullard:

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell discussed President Obama’s speech at Hiroshima, where he said, “death fell from the sky,” and where he hoped for a nuclear-free world. It was the first time a sitting president had visited the city, which we decimated in one of two atomic bombings during World War II that ended with Japan surrendering to the United States, ending humanity’s most destructive war.

Mitchell referenced the work of former U.S. Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Sam Nunn (D-GA) for their work in trying to curb the spread of nuclear material, where Brian Williams added that we used nuclear weapons against Japan “in anger” (via NewsBusters):

ANDREA MITCHELL: And Brian, just a word to two men that you knew very well, Dick Lugar and Sam Nunn, the fact that they had this nuclear threat initiative and that they controlled through a bipartisan act of Congress, controlled the spread of nuclear materials, non-state actors and materials even in this age of terror, all these decades after the end of the Cold War is just remarkable and I don't think they get enough credit for it.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: It is and that is still the threat that people worry about that this material will fall into the wrong hands. If people have found the U.S. to be preachy in the years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki about the use of weapons, it’s because we’re the only nation to have used them in anger. Sometimes, I am amazed that the world has been without these weapons all the years since, but it is a point of, a great pride by the people who have seen to it.

Williams assertion is that the U.S. used these weapons in anger. This is not only silly, but it implies a monopoly on rage in warfare that's never existed. War is by definition an angry enterprise. It's a horrible thing, and for most, a last resort. Prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the U.S. was reluctant to enter. When we did, we found ourselves matched against an enemy that used inhuman tactics. Writing at the Free Beacon, Sonny Bunch articulates this with some excerpts from "Unbroken." As the book notes:

Raymond “Hap” Halloran was a navigator who parachuted into Tokyo after his B-29 was shot down. Once on the ground, Halloran was beaten by a mob of civilians, then captured by Japanese authorities, who tortured him, locked him in a pig cage, and held him in a burning horse stall during the firebombings. They stripped him naked and put him on display at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo, tied upright in an empty tiger cage so civilians could gawk at his filthy, sore-encrusted body. He was starved so severely that he lost one hundred pounds. …

The Japanese military surrounded the city of Nanking, stranding more than half a million civilians and 90,000 Chinese soldiers. The soldiers surrendered and, assured of their safety, submitted to being bound. Japanese officers then issued a written order: ALL PRISONERS OF WAR ARE TO BE EXECUTED. What followed was a six-week frenzy of killing that defies articulation. Masses of POWs were beheaded, machine-gunned, bayoneted, and burned alive. The Japanese turned on civilians, engaging in killing contests, raping tens of thousands of people, mutilating and crucifying them, and provoking dogs to maul them. Japanese soldiers took pictures of themselves posing alongside hacked-up bodies, severed heads, and women strapped down for rape. The Japanese press ran tallies of the killing contests as if they were baseball scores, praising the heroism of the contestants. Historians estimate that the Japanese military murdered between 200,000 and 430,000 Chinese, including the 90,000 POWs, in what became known as the Rape of Nanking. …

The decision to use the atomic bomb was not an "angry" decision, as Williams characterizes it. It was a hard decision made by serious men as a means to ending a war that had caused millions of deaths and untold destruction. By choosing to characterize it as "angry," Williams removes the context and implicitly suggests that the United States was a merciless aggressor. As history suggests, nothing could be further from the truth.

Sen. Marco Rubio could shake up the Florida Senate race if he changes his mind and seeks re-election, because his familiarity among voters would likely let him surge ahead of an otherwise obscure pack of candidates in both parties.

"The good news for Marco Rubio is he has very high name recognition," Peter Brown, who surveys Florida voters for the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Eight Republicans and three Democrats are running in the August 30 primary that will award each party a spot on the ticket. November matchup polls, however, show no candidate has a clear advantage, which is worrisome to Republican party leaders who are fighting to hold onto the Senate majority, and desperate to hang onto Rubio's seat.

The trailer for Pixar's Finding Dory has been released to both fanfare and controversy after viewers pointed out the two-minute clip may feature a lesbian couple.

While some parents already declared they would be boycotting the follow-up to Finding Nemo after the latest trailer was released last week, others rejoiced and pledged their support for the film.

Audiences have been pushing the animation studio for greater LGBT representation, with recent campaigns on social media calling for Frozen's Queen Elsa to be paired off with another woman in the upcoming sequel.

A Henderson man has been arrested after he allegedly damaged more than 150 crosses in the downtown Memorial Day display with his vehicle early Saturday, according to officials.

Anthony Burrus, 27, was arrested in connection with the incident that took place in Central Park at around 6 a.m., according to Henderson Police Public Information Officer Jennifer Richmond. Roughly 160 crosses were knocked down and about 20 were destroyed.

The display in Central Park contains more than 5,000 crosses, each bearing the name of a Henderson resident who served in the military.

The vehicle Burrus was driving, a 1979 Ford Thunderbird, was found with pieces of a cross and ground stake embedded in the tires after he left it at the McDonald's restaurant on South Green Street. Richmond said Burrus denied causing the damage in the park, but confirmed he had been driving the vehicle and left it after it stopped working.